


Subject: Epic Romance?

by swansdoctor



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, musician!killian
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-28
Updated: 2017-12-04
Packaged: 2019-02-07 21:17:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12849705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swansdoctor/pseuds/swansdoctor
Summary: When Emma Swan gets paired up with Killian Jones for their final in freshman film class, she's less than thrilled. When it turns out they have to write a romance, well, that's where it all goes wrong.





	1. Chapter I

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first multichapter so eventually i'm going to try to stick to some kind of schedule but i'm not quite sure what that is yet. you can find me on tumblr @jones-alice!

“It’s just freshman film class, Rubes. No big deal.” Emma was sat atop her bed in their shared dorm room, swinging her legs back and forth. Despite the chill running through the room (Ruby always kept it a few degrees too cold), she was only wearing a white tank top and red underwear. Ruby, somehow, was almost wearing less.

“Yeah, but it’s your final project! Worth, like, what? A third of your grade?” her roommate opened the door to their mini-fridge and pulled out a can of diet cherry Coke.

“A quarter. Just like the other three.”

“Still…” Ruby took a sip of the soda and pressed her lips together, humming in disapproval.

“I can miss _one _class. I’m sure I’ll still have a partner for the project when I get back; I can’t possibly be the only one who misses. Anyways, David won’t screw me over with this. I’ll be _fine _.”____

_____ _

__

“You don’t even have a good reason!”

“I am in desperate need of some coffee and I’m running on two hours of sleep that I got mid-afternoon and class starts in ten minutes and the building is fifteen minutes away?”

“Okay, so you have four good-ish reasons. Fine, fine. Just hope you don’t get stuck with loverboy, what’s his name again?”

“I will not get stuck with Killian Jones.” Emma sighed as she swung her legs up onto her bed and pulled her blanket up to her chin, willing herself to get a few more hours of sleep before her bio class that night.

-/-

“There’s a match on!” Will cried out, dismayed that Killian was stuffing his laptop in his backpack instead of planted on the couch next to him.

“I have film class?” Killian said, almost as if he wasn’t sure.

“You’re a music major!”

“I like the class.”

“You _like _the girl.” Killian scowled.__

____

____

“Go on, mate, we’ll text you when they score.” Robin cuffed Killian on the shoulder and sat next to Will on the couch. If Will was the devil on Killian’s shoulder, Robin was the angel – although, come to think of it – 

“Robin, don’t you have class as well?”

“Yeah, but it’s maths. What’s a creative writing major going to do with maths?” Robin countered.

“What’s a creative writing major going to do with a creative writing degree?” Killian mumbled as he slung his backpack over his shoulder.

“I ‘eard that!” Will shouted as Killian walked out, giving a small wave to tell Will that that had, in fact, been his intent.

-/-

“Alright, does anyone _not _have a partner? You need to speak up now, this is the final project and I won’t accept individual films.” David scanned the room; most of the class was already sitting in pairs. Killian sat in the back row, glancing around as he realized he was the last man standing. He slowly raised his hand, hoping another would go up because he could not be stuck with Emma Swan, absolutely not, that girl _hated him _, and, despite what it looked like, he did care about this class and a final project with a girl who (completely unnecessarily) considered him her nemesis didn’t bode well for his grade.____

_____ _

_____ _

“Just the one? Hmm.” David looked down at the attendance sheet, scoping out blank spaces. “You’ll work with Emma Swan.” He hated to pair her up with the class slacker (who takes freshman film as an elective?), but she _had _skipped class that day of her own accord; she would’ve texted him if she were sick or had a different, similarly plausible excuse.__

____

____

Killian reached up to run his fingers through his dark hair, a nervous tic of his for as long as he could remember. He smiled broadly and nodded at his professor to let him know he’d heard him. He’d have to email Emma to let her know and wow, was he _not _looking forward to that conversation.__

____

____

“Everyone’s going to have a different genre to work in so I’m not viewing the same film over and over again. I’ll assign them randomly, and you and your partner will get an email later today with your genre. Any complaints, you’re welcome to take them up with me during office hours. Alright, we’re done for the day. Come see me if you’ve got questions.” David shut his laptop and turned off the projector overhead. Students filed out of their seats and out the door, a small queue forming in front of the professor.

Killian slipped his bag over his shoulder and headed for the door, already running over words in his head. He stuck his earbuds in as he exited the building and pressed ‘play’ on his phone, smiling as classic rock flooded through them. It wasn’t a long walk back to his dorm, only about fifteen minutes, but it was longer than the rest of his classes. Why’d the film building have to be so far from the main campus?

Killian stuffed his hands in the pockets of his dark jeans and put his head down, trying to avoid eye contact with, well, anyone. He made it back to the dorm as the last chord of David Bowie’s ‘Rebel Rebel’ faded out and took out his earbuds, wrapping them carefully around his prosthetic and putting them in his pocket. He tugged off his leather jacket and threw it onto his bed, setting his backpack down and removing his laptop to write that email he did not want to write.

“Well, here goes nothing, Jones.” he mumbled to himself as he started to type.

-/-

Emma woke up to the sound of her phone ringing (and ringing, and ringing, and ringing). At first, she threw her pillow over her head to mask the sound, but by the time the phone rang for the fourth time, she groaned and rolled over to pick it up.

“Hello?” she mumbled.

“Why weren’t you in class, Emma? You knew we were talking about the final project today.” David scolded.

“Yeah, but why would I go to class when I can just call you and find everything out from the comfort of my own bed?”

“Emma!”

“Sorry, sorry, what’d I miss? Who’s my partner?”

“Jones.” Emma sat straight up, ignoring the head rush that was quickly forming in her skull.

“What?”

“Your partner is Killian Jones.”

“No no no no no, there’s gotta be a mistake. Wasn’t anyone out sick? Or just, like, didn’t come? C’mon, David. Help me out here.”

“He was the last one without a partner. Besides you, that is. He should be emailing you the details. Good luck, Ems, I’ll see you Sunday for dinner.”

“Bye, David.” she sighed and flopped back down on her bed, covering her face with her hands. Eventually, Emma pulled up her school email on her phone, groaning when she saw the subject line.

_Subject: Epic Romance?_  
_Hello love,  
Due to your unexplained absence in class today, we’ve been assigned partners for the final project in Cinema I. I’d like to make this as painless as possible for the both of us, and I’m sure you’d like to as well. Now, luckily, we’ve been assigned the romance genre, and I’m a hopeless romantic, so this should be easy enough. Here’s my mobile number, I look forward to working with you ;) _

__

__

__

__

__

__

_K Jones ___

__

__

__

__

Emma groaned again as she entered his number into her cell. She could practically hear his accent through the computer.

**not your love, jones ******

********

********

_My mistake, Swan. ___


	2. Chapter II

Killian smiled to himself as he programmed Emma Swan’s name and number into his phone. Sure, he would’ve preferred to get her number the organic way, but hey, whatever worked. He’d been shamelessly flirting with her all semester, much to her irritation, but Emma was (almost) the only girl he’d met who didn’t seem to be affected by either the accent or the whole ‘bad boy’ thing, so right off the bat he made it his goal to get her to like him. Not necessarily to fall madly in love with him, but even a tentative friendship would be nice. At this point, the most he’d managed was a slew of pissed-off glances and the occasional snarky comment.

He’d had a smirk glued to his face since he’d gotten the email about their assigned genre. Romance? It had to be fate.

“What’re you so happy ‘bout, mate?” Will leaned against the wall, crossing his arms. He was wearing an old green and white baseball tee with the logo faded almost completely off. Killian immediately went blank-faced.

“Don’t know what you mean.” he said innocently.

“Yeah, alright." Will said with a grin. "You comin’ tonight?”

“Where?”

“That girl Robin’s been seein’s having a party at her flat. Off-campus.”

“It’s Tuesday, mate, you can’t take one night off?” Will looked positively offended. “I think I’ll stay in.”

“Suit yourself.” Will spun around and headed into his own room across the hall, shutting the door behind him.

_Are you busy tonight? I thought we could meet and go over some ideas for the script. ___

____

____

**i’m in class until 6 ******

********

********

_Seven? I’ll pick up dinner and we can work at my apartment. ___

____

____

**sure ******

********

********

**this isn’t a date ******

********

********

_Of course not, Swan, I’ll be on my best behavior. ___

____

____

**good ******

********

********

**i like grilled cheese, just so you know ******

********

********

_I’ll keep that in mind. ___

____

____

-/-

The clock read 6:59 when Emma knocked on Killian Jones’ door. He opened it wearing a plain black t-shirt that was definitely, _definitely _too tight.__

____

____

“Swan! You look lovely, as always.” Emma rolled her eyes, she was just wearing ripped jeans and an old sweatshirt from high school that read 'Storybrooke Pirates' across the front.

“Let’s just get to work, alright, Jones?”

“Your wish is my command.” he bowed, shutting the door behind Emma and leading her to the kitchen table. A grease-stained brown bag sat on the table, along with two paper plates. Emma sat down and set out her notebook as Killian took the seat next to her.

“Alright, I’m impressed. How’d you know?” Emma said as she pulled a bag of onion rings out along with her grilled cheese.

“Lucky guess?” Killian shrugged, taking a bite of his cheeseburger. He winked as he stole one of her onion rings.

“Why’s it so quiet? You have roommates, right?” Emma asked, noticing a quiet that didn’t often occupy the apartments of college boys. She surveyed the main room of the apartment – messy, but not as much as she’d expect. Killian would never tell her, but he’d definitely spent at least an hour tidying up before her arrival.

“Ah, yeah, they tend to be a bit more…social than I am.” he confessed, scratching behind his ear. “They’re at a party.”

“On a Tuesday?”

“That’s what I said.” Killian laughed. They ate in comfortable silence for a few minutes before Emma remembered why she was there in the first place.

“So, this film. Romance, really?”

Killian ran his hand through his hair. “Yeah…look, it was all random, I promise. I didn’t ask Nolan for that, I swear.”

Emma laughed. “I’m pretty sure he would’ve failed you then and there if you had; he’s my brother.”

Killian nearly choked on his drink. “Your brother?”

“Foster brother.” Emma clarified. “His mom ended up adopting me when I was fourteen. I didn’t want to change my name by then.”

“Oh.” Killian said, a bit in shock that David had assigned him, the seemingly least-motivated student in class, to work with his little sister. Emma grimaced; she didn’t mind people knowing about the Nolans or how she became part of their family, but she couldn’t stand the looks of pity – kind of like the one Killian had, Emma thought. “I was a foster kid too.” he added quickly as he saw the look on her face. “My mum, Alice, she died when I was four and I was in a ton of different homes ‘til my brother aged out of the system when I was ten.”

“Oh.” Emma echoed.

“So, did you have any ideas for the script? Other than the genre it’s wide open.” Killian said, wiping his hands on a paper towel and grabbing his notebook from the other side of the table.

“Um, not really. I’m still not super used to writing with someone else, so I kind of wanted to wait and see if you did.”

“Not yet, Swan. That’s why we’re here, yeah?” he smiled.

“Yeah.” Emma couldn’t help but notice it might have been the first genuine smile she’d seen from Killian Jones all semester. Sincerity looked good on him.

-/-

“I should be heading home soon.” Emma said, glancing at the clock. It read 12:06 a.m., already later than she’d usually stay up the night before she had a 9 a.m. They had migrated to the couch a while before, and Emma suddenly realized she was a lot closer to Killian than she had been at seven, their legs up against each other as they worked on script ideas.

“Right, yeah. Well, at least we got some work in.” Killian responded, flipping through several newly-filled pages in his notebook. He didn’t seem disturbed by their close proximity, of course not. Although, Emma thought, disturbed wasn’t the word she would use either.

“Right.” Emma slipped her notebook in her bag and stood up, starting to head for the door.

“Do you have class tomorrow afternoon?” Killian asked hopefully.

“No, but I have to go hang up posters around campus for this event I’m helping with.”

“Could you use an extra hand?”

“Is that supposed to be a joke?” Emma looked unimpressed. Killian sighed, but Emma saw a brief smile flicker across his face. “Sorry, sorry, yes, I could use some help. Meet me outside the student center at one?”

“I look forward to it, love.”

“Still not your love, Jones.”

“My mistake, Swan.” he winked as he walked her to the door and shut it behind her. He fell back against the door after it locked, his head hitting the hard surface. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to get the green of her eyes out of his head. Gods, he was screwed.

-/-

Emma got back to her room to find the lights off and Ruby asleep. She tugged off her chucks and threw them to the floor; she’d pick them up later (at least that’s what she kept telling herself, although the growing pile of shoes at the foot of her bed told a different story). She peeled off her jeans and tossed them in the hamper before getting into bed and checking her phone one last time.

_I had a good time tonight, Swan. ___

____

____

She thought about texting him back before deciding against it. With a sigh, Emma plugged her phone in and stuck it on her bedside table. She closed her eyes and drifted off to dreams that she’d never admit to of dark hair, unfairly blue eyes, and a stupidly attractive English accent.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> let me know what you think! you can find me on tumblr @jones-alice


End file.
